Blog15 July 2025

Getting Started with WFM: Lessons from Large-Scale Rollouts

Written by:

Craig Salmon

When companies begin evaluating UKG Pro WFM, the first question often isn’t what it can do — it’s where to begin. That hesitation is completely justified. Workforce Management (WFM) platforms are complex by nature. They deal with time, labor, compliance, engagement, forecasting — and the decisions you make early on can define your entire trajectory.

In my 20+ years overseeing WFM rollouts around the world, I’ve seen one pattern repeat: organizations that start small and grow deliberately have significantly higher success rates than those that try to implement everything at once.

A Common Misstep: Overplanning for Perfection

It’s tempting to wait until everything is aligned before committing to a solution: every workflow mapped, every stakeholder signed off, every module scoped in. But in many cases, this leads to analysis paralysis — and operational challenges continue to grow while planning drags on.

What We See in Successful Organizations

Successful teams start by asking:

  • What workforce challenges are costing us the most right now?
  • What do we actually need in the next 3–6 months to make progress?

They don’t try to do everything — they focus on impact, and they set themselves up to scale.

Why That Matters in the UKG Context

UKG Pro WFM is powerful, but it’s not prescriptive. There are many right ways to configure and deploy it. Knowing how to tailor the rollout based on your current maturity, your industry, and your regional challenges makes the difference between a system that’s used and a system that’s ignored.

Don’t let the size of the platform dictate the size of your first step. You don’t need to be perfect to start improving your workforce operations — you just need to be clear on where you’re going.

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